Aloys Kabura, a journalist with the Burundian Press Association (l’Association Burundaise de Presse - ABP) has been illegally detained in Ngozi prison in northern Burundi since 1 June. Since his detention, he has developed a severe medical condition with his legs and is unable to walk. He requires immediate medical treatment.

Aloys Kabura is reportedly detained with several other inmates in a cell nine meters squared. Prisons in Burundi are often overcrowded and unsanitary, and detention can amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. On 21 June, Aloys Kabura officially contacted the director of Ngozi Prison requesting to consult a doctor or nurse at Ngozi hospital about the medical condition with his legs because no doctors or nurses visit the prison. He has no received any answer.

Aloys Kabura was arrested after he reportedly made comments in a bar criticizing the conduct of the national police forces when they detained, and in some cases severely assaulted, around 30 journalists at a press conference held at the house of National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie, CNDD-FDD) parliamentarian, Matthias Basabose, in Kinindo, Bujumbura on 17 April, 2006.

Aloys Kabura was initially detained on the basis of article 273 of the Burundi penal code, which imposes the maximum punishment of 2 months in prison and/or a fine of 5,000 Burundian francs (US$5) for: "…[those who] in public, commit any act or make any gesture or remark that demonstrates or incites contempt in relation to the established powers, to agents of public authorities…"

The penal procedure code only allows for the pre-trial detention of those suspected of crimes which carry a punishment of over one year imprisonment. The public prosecutor in the province of Kayanza was questioned on 4 June about this apparent violation of the penal code procedure. The following day he issued a new arrest warrant, which was back-dated to the date of the original warrant, listing additional offences to strengthen the grounds on which Aloys Kabura could be held in pre-trial detention.

On 23 June 2006, the Ngozi appeal court confirmed the legality of the pre-trial detention of Aloys Kabura. In their ruling, which is officially dated 29 June although it was issued on 23 June, the judges of the appeal court stated that they did not find any irregularities in the procedure. Even though Aloys Kabura went to the appeal court hearing on makeshift crutches, the judges stated: "We admit that we are judges not knowledgeable about medicine. It is therefore necessary to obtain a report by a qualified doctor for clarification to enable us to make a correct and fair ruling." ("Nous sommes un juge et nous l'avouons, ignorant en matière de médecine d'où la nécessité d'une pièce émanant d'un médecin compétent pour nous éclairer afin de pouvoir prendre une décision juste et équitable").

If convicted, Amnesty International will consider Aloys Kabura a prisoner of conscience, as he has been detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of speech.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Over the last few months, Amnesty International has received reports of members of civil society being subjected to intimidation by the authorities. Arbitrary arrests and detentions seem to be increasingly used by the authorities to target people critical of either government policy or the conduct of security forces.

Terence Nahimana, the director of the NGO Cercle d’initiative pour une vision commune (CIVIC), has been detained in Mpimba Prison since 10 May 2006 after claiming that the government were intentionally stalling peace negotiations with the National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales de Libération, FNL) (see UA 147/06, AFR 16/007/2006).

Three members of the organisation AC Genocide were arrested on 21 May as they attempted to hold a monthly meeting at a local centre in the town of Gitega. One was released on medical grounds. The other two were charged with "threatening state security", and each paid 20,000 Burundian francs (US$20) as bail. Their lawyer stated that the release will be permanent as no formal charges were brought against them (see UA, 149/06, AFR 16/008/2006).

Saturday, July 22, 2006

D.R. Congo: As Vote Nears, Abuses Go Unpunished in KatangaCongolese Army and Mai Mai Commanders Should Be Charged with War Crimes

(New York, July 21, 2006) – As the Democratic Republic of Congo prepares for elections, the government's failure to take prompt and effective action against soldiers and others responsible for killing, raping and torturing civilians in Katanga could encourage further violence and insecurity in the southern province, Human Rights Watch said today.

With testimonies, analysis, photographs and video, the multimedia web special entitled "The Triangle of Death: A Place of Horrors in Katanga Province" documents widespread abuses committed by government soldiers and combatants of a local defense force known as the Mai Mai during three years of violence in central Katanga. Hundreds have been killed and more than 150,000 have fled their homes from the zone of military operations that local residents have dubbed "the triangle of death."

Incumbent President Joseph Kabila, himself from Katanga, is the current front-runner in the presidential contest, but with more than 30 other contenders, he may well face a run-off election weeks or even months after the first poll, which is scheduled for July 30. In addition, parliamentary elections require a two-stage process, lengthening the period before a new government is finally installed.

"The electoral period will be lengthy and characterized by uncertainty before a new government takes power," said Alison Des Forges, senior Africa adviser at Human Rights Watch. "During this time, justice cannot wait. Authorities must start holding abusers accountable if they want to discourage others from using similarly abusive tactics now and in the future."

In November 2005, the Congolese army launched a military operation to quell an insurgency in Katanga led by the Mai Mai. Government soldiers rounded up hundreds of civilians suspected of being Mai Mai, and deliberately killed or tortured to death dozens of them. They gang-raped scores of women alleged to have supported the Mai Mai.

Mai Mai combatants under the command of Kyungu Mutanga, known as Gédéon, and another Mai Mai leader, Makabe Kalenga Ngwele, have also killed, raped and otherwise abused civilians since 2002. In some cases, the Mai Mai publicly tortured victims before killing and cannibalizing them in public ceremonies intended to terrorize the local population.

The Mai Mai of Katanga were launched in 1998 as a popular resistance force against the invading foreign armies of Uganda and Rwanda, but later turned against the central government and local communities. In the web special posted today, Human Rights Watch documents the war crimes committed by both sides to this conflict and urges the government to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators. To date, Congolese authorities have failed to act effectively against abusers. On May 12 Gédéon surrendered to United Nations peacekeepers in Mitwaba, central Katanga. Several days later, he was handed over to Congolese judicial officials who have kept him in detention but have not charged him with any crime.

The current government has appointed former warlords from other parts of Congo, such as Ituri and the Kivus, as generals in the national army, ignoring credible information implicating them in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The most recent appointment was made on July 17, when the government granted the post of colonel in the national army to Peter Karim, a commander from the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), a murderous armed group in Ituri.

United Nations officials have provided the Congolese government with information about human rights abuses by members of armed groups and soldiers of the national army, including a file about military abuses submitted to the government in January.

"If President Kabila and other government ministers currently standing for elections are serious about a commitment to justice, they should not appoint suspected war criminals to high military ranks and they must bring to justice their own soldiers accused of such crimes," said Des Forges. "A national army staffed by war criminals is unlikely to provide any security to its citizens whether during elections or after."

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Residents of Bujumbura-Rurale denounce Rwasa, urge international community to investigate FNL atrocities

A statement addressed to the South African government minister and peace talks mediator Charles Nqakula, and signed by Placide Nsengyunva "in agreement with the survivors of Bujumbura Rurale" has urged the international community not to accept any deal which involves a pardon for the FNL leader Agathon Rwasa, arguing that only Rwasa's victims have the right to give any such pardon.

"..it is us who lost our possessions and who were driven out of the hills where we were born. Therefore, it is us who should have the last word, which is nothing other than that Justice is returned, and the guilty be punished according to the law", the survivors argue.

Also included in the statement is a list of more than seventy alleged civilian victims of Rwasa's FNL. The survivors urge "whoever would like to know more on this subject" to come to Bujumbura and investigate these deaths.

Full statement (English translation):

We have the honour to address your high Authority, with an aim of presenting our dismay at the provisional immunity and of the pardon desired by Mr. Agathon RWASA and in addition, to present this list of innocent civilian victims cut down under the command of Mr. Agathon RWASA. Exellence, Mr. the Mediator, immunity, pardons or General Amnesties cannot be delivered before justice has been done. We demand insistently that National and International justice be given an important place among the agreements which are made and signed, here we urge your Government to avoid falling into the traps of Mr. Agathon RWASA. There can be nogotiation, and no acceptance of the pardon that Mr. RWASA demands in the place of the survivors or the victims, it is us who lost the our possessions and who were driven out of the hills where we were born. Therefore, it is us who should have the last word, which is nothing other than that Justice is returned, and the guilty be punished according to the law.

Concerning the list that we referred to at the beginning: We do not have much to add, only that we invite whoever would like to know more on this subject to join us in Bujumbura. We are ready to guide anyone who would like to make a proper investigation. Thus the truth will be established and the errors and lies avoided from all those sides which are involved in this business. We challenge Amnesty International and Humans Rights Watch to come to inquire into ground so that the crimes, tortures and ignoble acts that have been inflicted on the humble peasants of Bubanza, Cibitoke and Bujumbura Rural can be made plain to the general public.